| Game 1 | ODU 15, WKU 1 | ODU leads series, 1-0 | ||||||||||||
| Team | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | R | H | E |
| Old Dominion | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 5 | 4 | 2 | 1 | 3 | 15 | 23 | 0 |
| WKU | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 4 | 0 |
WP: Gertner (2-0)
LP: Calvert (2-3)
2B: ODU: Burch, Bell; WKU: Sanford
HR: WKU: Sanford
BOWLING GREEN, Ky. -- After a 1-9 start to conference play, Old Dominion secured a bid to next week's Conference USA Tournament in Biloxi with a dominant 15-1 win over Western Kentucky in the series opener on Thursday evening at Nick Denes Field.
Old Dominion (34-18, 15-13) smashed a season-high 23 hits and was 11-for-24 with runners in scoring position. ODU has now won six straight.
Seven Monarchs registered multiple hits and three had 4-hit performances. Bryce Windham went 5-for-5 with three RBIs and Matt Burch went 4-for-6 with a double and four RBIs. Tommy Bell also had four hits, going 4-for-5 with two runs and an RBI.
Postgame Interviews: Finwood | Windham
On the mound, Tommy Gertner provided ODU with a solid start. Gertner earned his second win of the year, allowing just one run on two hits in four innings of work. Aaron Holiday, Hunter Gregory and Michael Parmentier then threw five innings of shutout relief.
Western Kentucky (24-26-1, 15-12-1) scored its only run on a Jake Sanford solo home run in the fourth. After that, ODU scored 15 unanswered runs.
Also of note for ODU, Kyle Battle played for the first time since April 9. Returning from a hand injury, Battle went 2-for-2 with an RBI off the bench.
Game two of the series is slated for Friday at 6 p.m. ET. Jason Hartline (0-2, 4.81 ERA) is expected to start on Friday for ODU.
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